The Progeny of the Shodai
by Legend of the Kyuubi
Summary: Hashirama's might was second to none in his lifetime. To this day only Madara rivaled the man's vast power. Danzō knew they needed a weapon. His hand forced, Danzō takes Konoha's resident jinchūriki to create what he would dub the Perfect Ninja. Where Orochimaru failed, Danzō succeeded in making a ninja capable of uniting the countries together, or bring them to their knees.


**The Progeny of the Shodai**

This is a work of Fan fiction. All of the original characters, organizations, techniques, and events portrayed in this fictional literature are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictionally. Though the majority of the events and most characters take place in and are a part of manga artist Kishimoto's world Naruto.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any other manga or stories. I do have ownership of the techniques, the originality of this plot, the story I created and some others things in this story. But the elements from manga artist, etc I do not own.

Jutsu, Japanese translation: **Jasaiga **(Tyrant Crushing Fang)

Normal speech: I hate paperwork. I bet Minato died just to escape this.

Demon/Summon or Fusion speech**: Finally, I am free. In your face Minato!**

Human Thinking/Memoirs/Books: _Oh, Shit._

Demon/Summon or Fusion Thinking: **_Oh, Shit is right! You are royally screwed bitch!_**

**Summary:** Hashirama's might was second to none in his lifetime. To this day only Madara rivaled the man's vast power. Danzō knew they needed a weapon. His hand forced, Danzō takes Konoha's resident jinchūriki to create what he would dub the Perfect Ninja. Where Orochimaru failed, Danzō succeeded in making a ninja capable of uniting the countries together, or bring them to their knees.

If the beginning sounds familiar it's because it's from one of my stories. Story will be epic in length, pairings come later, and no Naruto won;t be able to beat everyone right away. It will seem that way but trust me.

* * *

(Prologue)

(Konohagakure no Sato; Hidden Catacombs)

Deeply hidden beneath the glorious village of Konoha were a series of intertwined catacombs and tunnels leading to a reclusive base of operations. The walls of earth and stone as well as the intricate patterns of the facility left little to no form of light to enter.

Many who resided in the chambers of this hidden and dark wonder had little to no color in their pigmentation due to the lack of sunlight their bodies were meant to absorb. Those who did were mostly because of their higher ranking.

Shimura Danzō, elder of Konoha and leader of the former and now secret military operation known as Root, browsed through the academy roster, looking for potential candidates for his otherwise unauthorized division. Having been disbanded by the Hokage when their services had no longer been needed.

A foolish notion the elder thought.

The act of looking for potential candidates for Root was a repetitive cycle for the old war hawk, though some, however, considered him a misguided patriot who's love of Konoha exceeded many of their village.

Others simply saw him as warmonger bent on taking down everyone who stood in his way.

Truthfully, many, even those who knew him well, doubted they'd ever fully understand the last surviving member of the former prestigious and infamous Shimura Clan.

As he looked through the files before him, Danzō narrowed his search for members considerably quickly. Root searched for more than just mere talent among would be members. They searched for their targets families, personalities, potential, health, etc. Clan members were rarely approached due to their loyalty to their respective clans and the Hokage in general, with only a few rare exceptions ever being done.

Examples being Aburame Torune and Yamanaka Fū and though young, both males were exceptional ninja in his forces despite their respective ages. Not that age mattered the moment one stepped into the shinobi world.

As he looked at the documents before him, Danzō set them into three mental categories: Approved, Potential, and Denied. Though different, the categories all shared one thing in common: a process.

The Approved category meant that the individual was ready to be approached by either Danzō or High Ranking Root members, in disguise of course, and be offered the opportunity to join their ranks as one of Konoha's hidden elite. With precautions being performed on those who declined.

The Potential category meant that the individual showed promise as a ninja but Danzō needed more to see more progress and their personality before accepting them as would be Root trainees.

The Denied category meant that the individual either showed promise but was too loyal or too much of a wildcard for them to join or they were ninja that held inferior skills and at best would become average soldiers. Root made strong and note worthy ninja that would give one infamy, nothing more and nothing less.

Whenever a member joined Root, Danzō made something exceptionally clear on their very first day. Root was perfection. Root was capable of doing the dirty work others couldn't handle. Root was the shadow hidden within the shadow of another. Root was the silent protector of Konoha. Root was the unseen ones who support the great tree of Konoha from the depths of the earth.

And the most important one of all: Root was not for the weak.

Which was why the man had been so adamant in having Konoha's newest jinchūriki, Uzumaki Naruto.

If one were asked to describe the boy and current first year student of Konoha's Ninja Academy, many words would come to mind.

Arrogant.

Exuberant.

Brash.

Inattentive

Heedless.

The list would go on and on.

Naruto wasn't what one would call a genius, unlike his rival Uchiha Sasuke, heck he was far from it. The boy was a hard worker… when he wanted to be, and they needed to be on his own terms.

The boy had a great lineage on his mothers side, one that had distant relations with the once legendary and infamous Senju Clan, one of the original Four Noble Clans like the Uchiha, Hyūga and Nara of Konoha before being replaced by another after their eventual demise. Truthfully, Danzō knew that no clan could every truly replace the Senju Clan.

As he continued to ponder, Danzō, against his better judgment and mental fortitude, couldn't help but begin to lose control of his growing anger. Konoha was a mockery of what it used to be! Konoha had once been a village where shinobi had enough power in them to make armies run away in fear.

Now it was all a mere joke in his mind.

Many of the current generation were ignorant of this past exploits of legendary warriors, both ninja and samurai alike. Hiruzen, strong as he was in his prime, wasn't Konoha's strongest Kage. Having earned the moniker God of Shinobi when he fought and being the only one to have ever defeated the thought to be all powerful Sandaime Raikage of Kumo, better known as The Immortal.

"Until I'm proven otherwise, that right has and always will belong to you, Hashirama-sama," Danzō bowed in respect for the deceased Shodai of Konoha.

Senju Hashirama was a shinobi of vast prowess. So powerful was he that when he fought he left many lesser foes in a permanent catatonic like state from his Killing Intent alone. When he fought against his equally infamous and legendary rival Uchiha Madara, the only man who could hope to come close to matching him, however, it left the land in such a state of upheaval that on several dozen occasions it forced cartographers to remake the maps themselves. And this was done without the use of the Kyūbi on Madara's behalf.

The battle that resulted in the Valley of the End, one that lasted nearly three whole days of none stop fighting, releasing incredibly taxing jutsu after jutsu in continuous repetition, fighting for survival till only one came out as the victor, had been a testimony to the power these titans in human form possessed.

Shinobi of such caliber didn't exist anymore nowadays. And now many saw such legendary feats as impossible or mere exaggeration.

Many even compared the might of Namikaze Minato to that of the Sandaime in his prime for his victory over the Kyūbi. Powerful a ninja he was, Minato was an ant compared to Hiruzen in his prime, he held speed and knowledge on Fūinjutsu and Time Space Ninjutsu that surpassed Hiruzen's but was still nowhere near the man's level of skill.

After all he was the only one who fought and defeated the Immortal, who was also reputed as the fastest shinobi alive during his lifetime, a man who's speed that Danzō had no doubt would be an even match for Minato's, and lived to tell the tale.

Something had to be done. For Konoha Danzō would gladly give up his humanity and his life to see her prosper.

Fishing for some documents Danzō came across one that proved to be beneficial. Naruto, along with his classmates, wouldn't need to go back to the academy for a two months and a half due to the first year of the academy being done with.

"_Plenty of time,_" the bandaged man smirked.

* * *

(Several Months Later)

Scientist and ninja alike hustled back and forth, while Danzō gazed into the container in front of him with great interest. Contained within it was to be the crown jewel of his life, the perfect shinobi in his mind.

Held in a state of suspended animation was none other than Uzumaki Naruto. Danzō would be the first to admit that while his knowledge and intellect in the domain of biological reengineering wasn't as profound as Hiruzen's traitorous former student, Orochimaru, he was still an accomplished scientist in his own right.

And thanks to Uchiha Shisui's eye, his knowledge on the subject had grown by leaps and bounds.

The member of the Legendary Three Ninja, powerful as he was, hadn't suspected a thing when Danzō had subtly influenced the man to be more forthcoming with certain useful pieces of intel before he was implanted with Hashirama's cells into his being.

All this and much more had been done with Orochimaru thinking it was all of his own free will. The Uchiha Bloodline Limit was truly a remarkable and frightening tool. Danzō had to admit that he now better understood Orochimaru's lust for the Bloodline Limit. Copying techniques were merely the tip of the iceberg. The Sharingan had a whole other level that many didn't know about. Danzō suspected that even the Uchiha Clan achieves didn't hold such information, in his mind it would most likely be do to fear of abuse.

The only downside to the eye's technique was that it took a great deal of chakra to perform and maintain in Danzō's case and that it was a once a decade use till Hashirama's cells drastically enhanced the recovery rate.

Hashirama's cells were the key to everything, it would seem.

Danzō knew that in order for the cells to successfully bond with Naruto, which would in term transfer Hashirama's abilities and power into the jinchūriki, certain drastic measures needed to be taken care of first.

One of the first and foremost important in Danzō's opinion was the Kyūbi itself. Danzō had lived for decades and had studied the behavioral patterns and symbiotic bond of both jinchūriki and Bijū alike. So long as the creature was sealed inside Naruto it would protect him, for the sake of its own survival of course.

However, Danzō knew that while the seal kept the Bijū's power at bay to prevent it from escaping or cause harm, certain circumstances overwrote the seal's protective functions. In this case, should the Kyūbi sense anything that it saw as a threat enter Naruto's system its chakra would be able to pass through only for the sole purpose of destroying the harmful entity before it caused any real harm.

Sealing off the Kyūbi's influence and awareness while syphoning its chakra to prevent Hashirama's cells from killing the boy, and to prevent the Kyūbi from destroying Hashirama's cells themselves, had been no easy feat. They were successful in the end but their job was far from done.

Next to be deal with were the boy's memories. Using Shisui's eye in conjunction with special seals he constructed and placed on the boy, Danzō manipulated the boy's mind. Altering it to his liking.

Danzō knew, however, that the he boy needed to retain certain memories and mannerisms that made Naruto, well Naruto. When asked why not simply erase and replace them with new ones and completely wipe his emotionally slate instead Danzō had merely presented them with a book.

More specifically the book was Senju Tobirama's notes on the **Edo Tensei** (Impure World Resurrection).

In the book it explained the theories and calculations he developed in order to make the Edo Tensei, how it worked, what was needed, etc. While Tobirama hadn't mastered the technique in the practical sense, and had stopped midway due to the moral ramifications it caused, Tobirama had perfected the theory behind the technique.

The technique was originally meant for psychological warfare, which was useful to perform incredible amounts of damage on the enemy. However, Tobirama realized a downside to the technique. To have total control over the summoned individual special talismans were needed to be used to kill off the person's personalities and emotions, making them the perfect killing machines.

Initially the Root founder found this to be correct course of action. To be a true shinobi meant that one needed to kill off their emotions to become better warriors.

However, Tobirama's notes contradicted the man philosophy. By turning off the summons personalities and emotions one essentially took away their power. Tobirama explained that during one of his trial runs on the technique he discovered that when he used the special tags to gain control of who summoned back from the afterlife he unintentionally sealed away a portion of their power.

Danzō initially wanted to deny such claims. Stating that emotions made a ninja weak. That was, until, he discovered _who _Tobirama had summoned to know that he needed to accept the bitter sweet truth. Konoha's Nidaime had summoned none other than the brother of Hashirama's long time rival.

Uchiha Izuna.

Though not as strong as his older brother, Izuna was still a powerful shinobi nonetheless. Being able to decimate elite shinobi squads with little to no effort during the Clan Wars. And his skill in the powers of the Sharingan was second only to his sibling.

But his power had been nowhere near that potent when Tobirama used the sealing tags to control him. While the infinite chakra and nearly instantaneous regeneration compensated for this loss, slightly, it still wasn't the same in Tobirama's mind. Izuna's fighting style was almost completely monotonous, lacking any of the originality his fighting style possessed when he was alive.

The way he fought Tobirama dared say he was predictable, a trait the Uchiha Clan members of old prided themselves on not doing. It was more or less watching a cheap imitation of a very good kabuki theater play.

And against his better judgment, Danzō decided to let Naruto keep his emotions rather than sealing them away. Hoping to see if it would result in the creation of a better shinobi that he ever hoped to accomplish through his old means. At the same time, he hoped the boy would remain loyal to Konoha.

"Danzō-sama," one of the elder's many scientists called out to the man.

"What is it?" he asked in a tone that many knew it had better be important. A lot had been going on lately. With the destruction of the Uchiha Clan, which Danzō took advantage in more ways than one, and the sudden disappearance of their resident jinchūriki Konoha hadn't been the same. His plans needed to be rushed at times and more often than not Danzō could only be here once a week, maybe twice if he was lucky, due to being primary suspect in Naruto's disappearance.

The man was being watched like a hawk.

"It seems your theory was right," the man answered quickly, handing to his leader a small journal.

"The memoirs of Senju Hashirama," Danzō muttered. The man had heard about it from Hiruzen during their more youthful years but the man hadn't honestly thought much of it at the time. Opening the book, Danzō quickly read its contents till he saw what he was looking for.

* * *

_Journal Entry, 324_

"_Long have I suspected myself to be unique to my kin. Being a direct descendent of the "youngest son" and the gifts given to him I knew there was a possibility of such an uncommon manifestation to occur within the generations to come. I didn't, however, expect it to be me."_

_"My ability to use Mokuton, I now realize, stems not from merely a simple combination of Earth and Water. Like my rival's Bloodline Limit the Sharingan, there is so much more to it than expected."_

_"I admit I am not as formidable in genetic splicing and reengineering as Madara. But I not a master medic for nothing and I possess enough knowledge on the human anatomy and extensive knowledge on chakra to properly assess and determine the cause and root of my Bloodline Limit."_

_"To start the Mokuton shouldn't be called a Bloodline Limit, nor should it be called its much rarer and advanced form the **Kekkei Tōta** (Bloodline Selection). To possess and utilize the Mokuton to its fullest potential an individual needs the following:"_

_"An affinity for Water, Earth, and Yang Release natures. Those who possess these three natures will potentially, albeit the chances are rare and immensely low, be able to use a lesser version of the Mokuton should they find a way to combine all three into one singularity; one that lacks the raw power the original was meant to have. However, according to my calculations the manifestations of the Yang Release, like its counterpart the Yin Release nature, is just as difficult to manifest. Only one out of a million in the entire world will be able to manifest this ability."_

_"Most important of all, in order to utilize the Mokuton at its fullest capacity one needs the ability to be able to absorb natural energy into oneself and successfully merge it on cellular level with the other three natures, not simply empower the natures. Due to the increasingly erratic behavior of nature energy and as well as the immense amount of control and chakra required to combine all four into one, in conjunction with having a great deal of control over the other natures, I estimate that only I would be the true master of this unique ability. I am the only one who wouldn't suffer from negative side effects should they try to obtain this power as their own."_

* * *

_Journal Entry, 357_

_"To be honest I thought I wouldn't be writing about this again, having thought I uncovered what I had needed to better understand my ability, I was wrong. During one of my missions I came across a unique clan that possessed the innate ability to passively absorb natural energy into their bodies. However, the clan clearly lacked refined control over this ability and it drove them to madness. The continuous drawing of nature energy warping the minds and their bodies, gaining periods of sanity only when their bloodlust has been sated during battle or other various means, and even then the cycle would once again repeat itself."_

_ "I uncovered the secret origin of their ability in one of the legendary places of the summon plane that connects with our world with that of the summons. The Ryūchidō (Dragon Ground Cave), led by the Hakuja Sennin (White Snake Sage)."_

_"From him I better understood my powers and took them to new heights. I was similar to the berserk clan. Only, unlike them where the excess amount of nature energy caused them to go mad and become hideously deformed, my body was able to absorb the right amount and any excess nature energy permanently merge with my being making my body and my chakra stronger in the process. As such I dubbed my condition as Permanent Sage Mode. Due to the backlash this would cause should this ability became hereditary, Hakuja-sama, on his honor as a sage and as a direct descendent of the Azure Dragon himself, swore he would never tell anyone of my condition."_

* * *

Closing the book, Danzō told the researcher to leave him to his thoughts. It all made perfect sense now. It explained why Orochimaru's supposed failed experiment victim wasn't capable of performing so many of the feats Hashirama could. Merely splicing and merging on cellular level on an individual in the hopes that they would gain his power wasn't enough. With others it would most likely be no problem but Hashirama's powers and genetic makeup were utterly unique. If what he read was accurate, even if they'd successfully manage to get the perfect variation of Hashirama's powers it would take years for the boy's body to adjust, and dozens of years more of refinement and training before he could begin performing on the same level as Konoha's strongest Kage.

Time they didn't have.

With the Uchiha Clan gone Konoha's military standing had dropped considerably in the world, amongst the four other great hidden villages Konoha was now barely tied for second with Iwa, having been replaced as number one by Kumo due to fact that unlike many of other villages Kumo had not demilitarized and constantly sought to have an advantage over the other military villages. Kumo was now the strongest hidden village.

Because of this Konoha was now suffering loss of clientele. If they couldn't defend themselves or prevent their own shinobi from turning on them, what made them so reliable as to carry out important missions assigned to them? Adding to the fact that Uchiha Itachi went and killed off an entire clan of 200 members, 125 of which were skilled Sharingan users, all by himself didn't help them.

Danzō knew they had no choice but to eliminate the clan in order to prevent the commencement of another shinobi world war, Konoha had still yet to recover from the last war and the Kyūbi attack. Were it not for the presence of Hiruzen and other noteworthy shinobi such as Jiraiya and Kakashi, Danzō knew they'd have already been attacked. However, it was only a matter of time before the other villages' lost their patience and begin their assault. It could very well be today or tomorrow. Danzō wasn't going to take that chance.

But what could be done?

"_This experiment was a failure the moment it began,_" Danzō berated himself. In his haste and need to create a means to defend Konoha against all her enemies, Danzō had totally forgotten to include Hashirama's journal into the equation. Had he done this beforehand he knew he would have gone in different direction.

Massaging his head as he contemplated what they were to do now, Danzō reach into his drawers and pulled out a bottle of his finest sake as well as a saucer to accompany the beverage.

Pushing some papers aside, having little time to keep his office organized with his current chaotic lifestyle, Danzō accidentally sent a few important documents scattering in the process. Downing his first cup, Danzō got up and proceeded to pick up the papers.

As he picked the last piece, Danzō's eye widened as he realized he had found the answer. The answer to his problems, Danzō knew that with this he would succeed where Orochimaru had failed.

* * *

(Two Months Later)

The catacombs of Danzō's Ne organization were in complete disarray. Bundles of fire and burnt documents were scattered all over. Danzō knew that word had gotten out on their involvement in Naruto's disappearance.

"_Damn you, Jiraiya!_" Danzō cursed the man, knowing only he and Orochimaru potentially had the knowledge and experience to destroy his personal curse seal. It was obvious that one of his agents was taken by surprise and got themselves' captured and thoroughly interrogated by Morino Ibiki and Yamanaka Inoichi. Jiraiya was one of the few individuals alive that was capable of such a feat. Luckily the agent wasn't one who know of his plans for Naruto, all those that did had been taken care of moments ago.

Being a notable and decorated veteran of Konoha and having made many friends in Hi no Kuni's Royal Court and in Hi no Kuni's capital, Danzō couldn't be held in confinement no matter how much they wanted and was able to proceed with his plans.

But Hiruzen and Jiraiya knew where Naruto was, and they knew Danzō was involved. His cover blown, no amount of connections would help him at the moment, and Danzō couldn't risk his plans to be thwarted now. He had come too far and was willingly ready to sacrifice everything to see his plans become a reality.

For Konoha Danzō would give his life, and his soul.

"Had things been different, I wonder if you and I would have remained friends, Hiruzen," the elderly man lamented before focusing on the task at hand.

Standing in front of Naruto, Danzō performed the following hand seals: Tiger, Snake, Dog, and finally, Dragon. Upon finishing Danzō clapped his hands together and declared, "**Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei** (Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation)!"

From the ground rose a coffin of wood, on it was the kanji for "First" upon it. As the lid came off of the wooden box of eternal rest, out came the decayed and cracked form of Konoha's Shodai Hokage.

"_Forgive me for what I am about to do, Shodai-sama,_" Danzō thought as he sped through another set of seals.

"**Fūinjutsu: Shiki Fūjin **(Sealing Technique: Dead Demon Consuming Seal)!"

Hovering behind the bandaged man was the demonic spectral form of the Shinigami itself. Slowly Danzō felt his soul being separated from his being, appearing as a bluish glowing chakra based projection.

Creating a few hand seals, the Shinigami's purple arm was thrust through Danzō and Hashirama's bodies. Soon Danzō could see the Shodai's soul in the Death God's clutches as it was ripped from his very being. Hashirama bore a pain expression as the action took place, Danzō could only imagine the agony the man was going through.

Part of him didn't want to, however.

Forming another hand seal. The Shinigami's hand moved towards Naruto's form, the seal of the Yondaime now visible to the world, before the appendage holding the Shodai's soul entered the young blonde's body. The action caused the boy to jerk and spaz as it was being done, it was soon followed by a loud gurgling yell that lasted several seconds before the ethereal arm came out of Naruto.

Now holding the essence of the Kyūbi itself.

"If I'm going to hell, I'm taking you with me, demon!" Danzō smirked at the snarling form of the demonic entity. Danzō knew that the beast was now completely powerless to do anything. Having separated the Bijū's very consciousness, or soul if he were to elaborate, from its power and sealed said power away with Hashirama.

Separated from the corrupting influence of the Kyūbi, Danzō theorized the chakra would become something much more beneficial, something else entirely. And without its chakra, the Kyūbi's resurrection would take decades. Knowing that a Bijū could not truly die.

With a final command, Danzō had the Kyūbi sealed inside him, its soul appearing behind him with his very own soul before both were eaten by the Death God.

Heavily drained and knowing his fate was sealed, knowing that the power of Shisui's Distinguished Heavenly Gods technique would be unable to manipulate the Shinigami, Danzō marched towards Naruto's now awaken but heavily weakened form and uttered two simple words as Shisui's eye morphed into Mangekyō Sharingan.

"Protect Konoha," were the final word Danzō rasped before Hiruzen and Jiraiya burst into the room with a battalion of Anbu.

Danzō however merely smiled as his world grew dark whilst falling to the ground, dead. His task accomplished. But he would never know peace.

For in the belly of the Shinigami there was no peace, only never ending turmoil.

* * *

**Anyway here you go and enjoy. Just to let you know I will be doing a type of twist in the story similar to what AdrienSkywalker is famous for.**

**Will update when I get 50 or so reviews. **


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